My Ether Wallet (MEW) is a web-based service that is among the most widely used.
The wallet allows you to securely store (in theory), send and to receive
Ether, Ethereum Classic and ERC-20 tokens.
Remember, MyEtherWallet only supports Ethereum-associated coins and tokens, it does not support bitcoin or other non-ethereum altcoins.
Although its name suggests it is a wallet, this is not strictly so as the platform is more like a wallet generator, where you create your wallet and get access to the Ethereum blockchain.
MyEtherWallet allows you to view all your Ethereum-related assets and tokens recorded on any number of private keys on its platform. As such, any wallets created gives you the user complete control over your private keys.
MEW is therefore not a long-term wallet storage option but more a short-term measure for your Ethereum-related cryptocurrencies and tokens. You should endeavour to transfer your cryptos to a more secure storage wallet such as a desktop wallet, a hardware device or otherwise. When combined however, both MyEtherWallet and MetaMask can be used together to offer a dynamic wallet package.
Using MEW Wallet
If you want to use MyEtherWallet, google myetherwallet.com and be sure you are on their official website before you start. Do also bookmark the website once you are sure that it is the real MEW site and in the future, only access MEW from that bookmark or alternatively, via MetaMask.
If you do not plan on using MetaMask, all the more reason to bookmark the MEW page to ensure that you do not open a copycat website as there have been incidents where hackers have created identical looking websites to steal users’ private keys. Please do not skip this important step.
A safety feature when using MEW and MetaMask is that you can actually log in and access your MEW account by choosing to do so via MetaMask, giving another layer of security.
You can also get the instructions on MEW of how to run it offline to generate paper wallets etc., It will involve downloading their latest offline version from their Github. It can be used to generate paper wallets for Ether (ETH) as well as any of the token standards that exist on the Ethereum blockchain.
Want to learn more about other types of crypto wallets!
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